Texas A&M Requirements for Admission

Choose Your Test

What are Texas A&M's admission requirements? While there are a lot of pieces that go into a college application, you should focus on only a few critical things:

GPA requirements

Testing requirements, including SAT and ACT requirements

Application requirements

In this guide we'll cover what you need to get into Texas A&M and build a strong application.

School location: College Station, TX

This school is also known as: A&M, TAMU, Texas A&M University

Admissions Rate: 66%

If you want to get in, the first thing to look at is the acceptance rate. This tells you how competitive the school is and how serious their requirements are.

The acceptance rate at Texas A&M is 66%. For every 100 applicants, 66 are admitted.

This means the school is
moderately selective. The school expects you to meet their requirements for GPA and SAT/ACT scores, but they're more flexible than other schools. If you exceed their requirements, you have an excellent chance of getting in. But if you don't, you might be one of the unlucky minority that gets a rejection letter.

Texas A&M GPA Requirements

Many schools specify a minimum GPA requirement, but this is often just the bare minimum to submit an application without immediately getting rejected.

The GPA requirement that really matters is the GPA you need for a real chance of getting in. For this, we look at the school's average GPA for its current students.

Average GPA: 3.55

The average GPA at Texas A&M is 3.55.

(Most schools use a weighted GPA out of 4.0, though some report an unweighted GPA.
This school did not officially report its average GPA, but we've estimated it here using data from over 1,000 schools.)

With a GPA of 3.55, Texas A&M
requires you to be around average in your high school class. You'll need a mix of A's and B's, and very few C's. If you have a lower GPA, you can compensate with harder courses like AP or IB classes. This will help boost your weighted GPA and show your ability to take college classes.

If you're currently a junior or senior, your GPA is hard to change in time for college applications. If your GPA is at or below the school average of 3.55, you'll need a higher SAT or ACT score to compensate. This will help you compete effectively against other applicants who have higher GPAs than you.

SAT and ACT Requirements

Each school has different requirements for standardized testing. Most schools require the SAT or ACT, and many also require SAT subject tests.

You must take either the SAT or ACT to submit an application to Texas A&M. More importantly, you need to do well to have a strong application.

Texas A&M SAT Requirements

Many schools say they have no SAT score cutoff, but the truth is that there is a hidden SAT requirement. This is based on the school's average score.

Average SAT: 1741 (New: 1250)

The average SAT score composite at Texas A&M is a 1741 on the old 2400 SAT scale.

On the new 1600 SAT, this corresponds to an average SAT score of 1250.

This score makes Texas A&M Competitive for SAT test scores.

Texas A&M SAT Score Analysis (New 1600 SAT)

The 25th percentile New SAT score is 1130, and the 75th percentile New SAT score is 1360. In other words, a 1130 on the New SAT places you below average, while a 1360 will move you up to above average.

Texas A&M SAT Score Analysis (Old 2400 SAT)

The 25th percentile Old SAT score is 1560, and the 75th percentile SAT score is 1920. In other words, a 1560 on the Old SAT places you below average, while a 1920 puts you well above average.

Here's the breakdown of old SAT scores by section:

Section

Average

25th Percentile

75th Percentile

Math

608

550

670

Reading

581

520

640

Writing

552

490

610

Composite

1741

1560

1920

SAT Score Choice Policy

The Score Choice policy at your school is an important part of your testing strategy.

Texas A&M has the Score Choice policy of "All Scores."

This means that Texas A&M requires you to send all SAT scores you've ever taken to their office.

This sounds daunting, but most schools don't actually consider all your scores equally. For example, if you scored an 1800 on one test and a 2100 on another, they won't actually average the two tests.

More commonly, the school will take your highest score on a single test date. Even better, some schools form a Superscore - that is, they take your highest section score across all your test dates and combine them.

Some students are still worried about submitting too many test scores. They're afraid that Texas A&M will look down on too many attempts to raise your score. But how many is too many?

From our research and talking to admissions officers, we've learned that 4-6 tests is a safe number to submit. The college understands that you want to have the best chance of admission, and retaking the test is a good way to do this. Within a reasonable number of tests, they honestly don't care how many times you've taken it. They'll just focus on your score.

If you take it more than 6 times, colleges start wondering why you're not improving with each test. They'll question your study skills and ability to improve.

But below 6 tests, we strongly encourage retaking the test to maximize your chances. If your SAT score is currently below a 1741, we strongly recommend that you consider prepping for the SAT and retaking it. You don't have much to lose, and you can potentially raise your score and significantly boost your chances of getting in.

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Texas A&M ACT Requirements

Just like for the SAT, Texas A&M likely doesn't have a hard ACT cutoff, but if you score too low, your application will get tossed in the trash.

Average ACT: 27

The average ACT score at Texas A&M is 27. This score makes Texas A&M Moderately Competitive for ACT scores.

The 25th percentile ACT score is 25, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 30.

Even though Texas A&M likely says they have no minimum ACT requirement, if you apply with a 25 or below, you'll have a harder time getting in, unless you have something else impressive in your application.

ACT Score Sending Policy

If you're taking the ACT as opposed to the SAT, you have a huge advantage in how you send scores, and this dramatically affects your testing strategy.

Here it is: when you send ACT scores to colleges, you have absolute control over which tests you send. You could take 10 tests, and only send your highest one. This is unlike the SAT, where many schools require you to send all your tests ever taken.

This means that you have more chances than you think to improve your ACT score. To try to aim for the school's ACT requirement of 27 and above, you should try to take the ACT as many times as you can. When you have the final score that you're happy with, you can then send only that score to all your schools.

ACT Superscore Policy

By and large, most colleges do not superscore the ACT. (Superscore means that the school takes your best section scores from all the test dates you submit, and then combines them into the best possible composite score). Thus, most schools will just take your highest ACT score from a single sitting.

We weren't able to find the school's exact ACT policy, which most likely means that it does not Superscore. Regardless, you can choose your single best ACT score to send in to Texas A&M, so you should prep until you reach our recommended target ACT score of 27.

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Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and ACT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.

SAT/ACT Writing Section Requirements

Both the SAT and ACT have a Writing section that includes an essay.

Texas A&M hasn't reported their stance on SAT/ACT Writing, but most likely they consider it to be optional. Thus you don't need to worry too much about Writing for this school, but other schools you're applying to may require it.

SAT Subject Test Requirements

Schools vary in their SAT subject test requirements. Typically, selective schools tend to require them, while most schools in the country do not.

We did not find information that Texas A&M requires SAT subject tests, and so most likely it does not. At least 6 months before applying, you should still doublecheck just to make sure, so you have enough time to take the test.

Our Expert's Notes

We did more detailed research into this school and found the following information.

There are three ways to be admitted to Texas A&M:

Automatically admitted if you live in Texas and are in the top 10% of your class at the time of your application.

Automatically admitted if you complete all of Texas A&M's required coursework, rank in the top 25% of your class at the time of application, and have an SAT score of at least 1300 (Math and Critical Reading) with each component at least 600, or an ACT composite of 30 with at least a 27 in English and Math.

3. If you don't meet either of the above, but meet the State of Texas Uniform Admission Policy (SAT of at least 1500 total, ACT of at least 18 English, 22 Reading, 22 Mathematics and 23 Science, plus successful completion of recommended high school classes), your application will be reviewed holistically, in other words, your essays, extracurriculars, and other information will all be considered.

Final Admissions Verdict

Because this school is moderately selective, strong academic performance will almost guarantee you admission. Scoring a 1920 SAT or a 30 ACT or above will nearly guarantee you admission. Because the school admits 66% of all applicants, being far above average raises the admission rate for you to nearly 100%.

If you can achieve a high SAT/ACT score, the rest of your application essentially doesn't matter. You still need to meet the rest of the application requirements, and your GPA shouldn't be too far off from the school average of 3.55. But you won't need dazzling extracurriculars and breathtaking letters of recommendation to get in. You can get in based on the merits of your score alone.

But if your score is a 1560 SAT or a 25 ACT and below, you have a good chance of being one of the unlucky few to be rejected.

Admissions Calculator

What are your chances of admission at Texas A&M University?

Chances of admission with these scores:

Here's our custom admissions calculator. Plug in your numbers to see what your chances of getting in are.

Note: This is only an estimate for the average student, based on data collected from thousands of students. Other factors in your application may come into play, such as extracurriculars and recommendation letters.

How would your chances improve with a better score?

Try to take your current SAT score and add 160 points (or take your ACT score and add 4 points) to the calculator above. See how much your chances improve?

There's a lot more to PrepScholar that makes it the best SAT/ACT prep program. Click to learn more about our program, or sign up for our 5-day free trial to check out PrepScholar for yourself:

Application Requirements

Every school requires an application with the bare essentials - high school transcript and GPA, application form, and other core information. Many schools, as explained above, also require SAT and ACT scores, as well as letters of recommendation, application essays, and interviews. We'll cover the exact requirements of Texas A&M here.

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